Looking to attract bees to your garden for a little help with pollination? Musk mallow is a great flower for enticing bees and adding a colourful splash of beauty that fits in perfectly with any flower garden. In this article, we’ll tell what musk mallow is, how to grow it, and where to buy it.
Whether you’re looking for a friendly gardenful of bees or the perfect flower to accent your backyard, musk mallow is a great choice and is readily available for purchase. It is a flower that requires low maintenance and provides a wealth of pleasure for insects and humans alike.
What Is Musk Mallow?
Musk mallow is a perennial flower native to tropical Asia and Australia that is closely related to the hollyhock. It can have many other names including musk okra, abelmosk, rose mallow, and ornamental okra. Musk mallow can grow up to one meter high and approximately half a meter wide.
Its flowers are pink or yellow with a red centre and five petals and it blooms from early summer to fall. It bears fuzzy leaves and is a very low-maintenance garden flower. Its seeds can be harvested for use in perfumes, medicine, or even food flavouring.
Do Bees Like Musk Mallow?
Many pollinators including bees, bumblebees, birds, and butterflies are attracted to musk mallows when they are in bloom. Their broad flowers allow for easy access to the nectar and pollen of the musk mallow and the bright colours and are especially attractive to the bees.
Musk mallow is perfect for attracting short and long-tongued bumblebees, honeybees, and solitary bees to your garden. While hoverflies and butterflies are also avid pollinators, this flower is mainly pollinated by bees so you’ll definitely be seeing more of those among the musk mallows.
Building a bee hotel surrounded by musk mallow is a great way to encourage the bees to frequent your garden. Solitary bees usually build their nests alone instead of with a colony so these quaint garden structures are perfect for housing your pollinating residents and allowing them to aid in the care and upkeep of your garden.
How Do You Grow Musk Mallow?
Musk mallow thrives best in moist soils in full sunlight. Since it is naturally tropical, hot and humid climates are ideal for the musk mallow. If starting your musk mallow from seed, plant the seeds indoors a month and a half to two months before the last frost of the spring. Transplant your musk mallow into the garden or set it outside in pots after the last frost of the season.
You can also plant your musk mallow seeds directly into your garden bed in late spring or early summer to avoid any freezing issues. Musk mallow does not require more than average water needs; avoid overwatering by ensuring that the soil doesn’t stay saturated.
Where Do You Buy Musk Mallow?
Musk mallow can be purchased on the Crocus website for £2.99 for fifty seeds. The seed packet will ship within one or two working days so that you can sow your bee-friendly garden in no time. Visit their website to purchase your musk mallow seeds today.
Conclusion
Musk mallow is an ideal choice for attracting bees of all different kinds from honeybees to bumblebees to your humble backyard garden. They are great pollinators for this easy-to-care-for flower species and the beautiful pinks and yellow of the blooms give life to any garden.
Enjoy these blooms from summer to fall with the ease of sowing your garden as soon as the frost lifts in the spring.
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